The present disclosure relates to the field of illuminators, and more specifically, to an infrared illuminator for a surveillance device.
Infrared illuminators are commonly used to providing lighting for cameras in surveillance systems and in other applications. These infrared illuminators generally use infrared light emitting diodes as the source of the light. A wide variety of infrared light emitting diodes are available that each has various characteristics, such as brightness, beam angle and the like.
In order to obtain the lighting desired for the cameras, many current infrared illuminators include light emitting diodes that have a wide beam angle. However, due to the construction of the infrared illuminators much of the light produced by the light emitting diodes doesn't escape the housing of the infrared illuminators and is therefore wasted. Alternatively, other available infrared illuminators include light emitting diodes disposed close to the exterior of the infrared illuminators to avoid wasting the light emitted. However, these designs require additional costs. Additionally, if the light emitting diodes are enclosed, light is lost internally and can be reflected into the lens, causing flair. If the light emitting diodes are not enclosed, the illuminators are vulnerable to tampering and environmental damage.